Even since I played D&D, I've been a fan of Gnolls. I collected several Ral Partha Gnolls, built a Naresh warband for Chainmail, and when Editor in Chief Bill offered the opportunity to do the new(ish) Hasslefree Gnolls, I jumped at the opportunity!

The miniatures arrived in the mail one week later: two males and a female leader. These are beautiful sculpts, with dynamic poses. As usual with Hasslefree, the figures were crisp, clean, and mold lines were almost inexistent; I cleaned all of them in less than five minutes!

First, I painted the figures GWBestial Brown. The armour, muzzle, ears, straps and claws were painted GWChaos Black. The weapons hafts were painted Calthan Brown, and the loincloth Mechrite Red. The mane received a coat of VallejoGCCharred Brown. Pouches and bags were painted GWGretchin Green and Fenris Grey. Finally, the teeth were painted Bleached Bone. The idea was just to block the colours in, nothing fancy.

Once that was done, I drybrushed VallejoBlack Grey on the leather straps, and GWCharadon Granite on the ears. I then washed the entire figures with Winsor & NewtonPeat Brown. Where the ink pooled too much, I removed the excess ink with a brush.

Since the manes looked too flat, I mixed Charred Brown with a little yellow and drybrushed that part until I liked the effect. I also drybrushed the skin (and especially the face) with Bestial Brown, and then lightened the colour until it looked good. I also highlighted the claws with grey.

The Gnolls were then given a coat of KrylonMatt Varnish to protect them and kill the ink's gloss.

Up to now, I had not decided whether the armour was going to be leather or metal. Upon closer analysis, the armour had some shapes that would be extremely difficult to do on leather. Besides, metal would contrast better.

I started drybrushing VallejoGunmetal Grey, followed by Boltgun Metal and finishing with a little Mithril Silver on the armour and weapons. It looked a little too clean for Gnolls, so I washed the metal parts with Winsor & NewtonPeat Brown (I love the stuff!). It gave definition, and made the metal parts look a little grimy and rusty, and the ink's shine actually looked good. I painted the buckles with Mithril Silver.

The shields were painted Chaos Black, and lightly drybrushed with Boltgun Metal. The inside was painted Calthan Brown, and the whole thing was washed with (yes, you guessed it!) Winsor & NewtonPeat Brown.

I painted the bases Gretchin Green, covered them with diluted PVA glue, and applied my own blend of Woodland Scenics flock and static grass. The flock actually helps the grass stand up.

Now the figures were finished! I placed the shields in place with Tac to take some pictures, and send them to our Fearless Leader. There, these beasties will crack the bones of many a defeated enemy!

My intention in doing this article is to prove that you don't have to be gifted with a brush, or spend countless hours on the table, to get nice-looking figures.